Budget Battle: Democrats Who Left State are Located
By The WTMJ News Team

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MADISON - Democratic State Senators who protested the budget repair bill by leaving the state have been found.

The lawmakers are in the Best Western Clock Tower Resort in Rockford Illinois.

Law enforcement officials have been looking for at least one Democratic senator to bring in for a quorum required for a fiscal measure, but Democratic Senator Jon Erpenbach confirmed to Newsradio 620 WTMJ that he and all of his Democratic colleagues boarded a bus and left the state.

"We're not in Wisconsin right now," Erpenbach said. "The reason why we're doing this is because there are some jurisdictional issues that we'd be dealing with."

The Senate's Sergeant at Arms cannot compel Senators' attendance in an open session if they are outside of state lines.

According to the Twitter account of Democrat State Senator Chris Larson from Bay View, "For those looking for us, we are right here, standing with the people of Wisconsin."

When asked by TODAY'S TMJ4's Tom Murray why he would not divulge his location, he said "I don't want those details to take away from the message being sent by the people of Wisconsin."

As observers in the senate chamber were shouting over the microphoned senators, a roll call was happening with no Senate Democrat in the chambers, and the discussion, debate and vote cannot occur because a 3/5ths quorum cannot be reached.

"The senate is now under a call of the house, and we will try to find the members who decided not to show up for work today. We will stand informal pending the resolution of the call of the house," said State Senator Mike Ellis.

A staff member for Senator Lena Taylor (D.-Milwaukee) said that office staffers cannot even leave their office because of the commotion inside the Capitol.

With the Democrats gone, not enough Senators are available for a quorum to vote on the bill.

Today's TMJ4 (http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/116390569.html)

djones520

02-18-2011, 11:24 AM

With childish antics like this, you have gotta wonder how these people continue to be elected.

Gingersnap

02-18-2011, 11:28 AM

With childish antics like this, you have gotta wonder how these people continue to be elected.

Their supporters have a mental age of about 6 years old so that explains part of it.

jediab

02-18-2011, 12:01 PM

Who is footing the bill for their little chicken shit retreat to that resort? Are those cowards paying for the lodging, food, bus chartering costs, and other expenses themselves? Or are the Wisconsin taxpayers paying for it?

Odysseus

02-18-2011, 02:53 PM

Who is footing the bill for their little chicken shit retreat to that resort? Are those cowards paying for the lodging, food, bus chartering costs, and other expenses themselves? Or are the Wisconsin taxpayers paying for it?

Since this is preventing a reduction in spending, the taxpayers are paying for it, if not directly. :mad:

In my profession, a person who deserts their post is jailed.
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http://hopenchangecartoons.blogspot.com/

Looking back over the past two years, it's hard to say what the very lowest point has been for our country and our alleged president. But even so, Hope n' Change is going to boldly state that we've officially reached a new, all-time low with the insanity in Wisconsin...and the execrable reaction from Barack "I Hate Democracy and America in General" Obama.

Here's the uncomplicated scenario: voters in Wisconsin realized that their state government had lied to them about expenses, revenue, and the state's ability to pay its obligations. So the voters, last November, voted in representatives who would bring fiscal responsibility to the state.

Which means, unsurprisingly, that cuts are necessary. And the first place to cut is in the bloated salaries and benefits packages of public employees. The Republican governor is backing a bill that says those public employees will no longer be able to engage in collective bargaining, and they'll have to make small (less than ordinary citizens) contributions to their own healthcare and retirement plans.

Sound reasonable? Well, it didn't to the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate, who unanimously jumped on a bus and left the state to prevent a vote on the fiscal responsibility measures from taking place.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama (who claimed to have inspired the "freedom fighters" in Egypt until they started sexually abusing women suspected of being Jews) declared that this simple and undeniably necessary cost control measure is "an assault on unions" which "villifies" public workers. In other words, he's not satisfied with a shutdown of the Wisconsin legislature...he wants riots to prevent even minimal cost-cutting.

And he's getting them. Overpaid (and under-performing) teachers called in sick, young people (who are, to put it mildly, stupid) have taken to the streets, and protestors are carrying signs showing Wisconsin's Republican Governor with a Hitler mustache or in the same kind of crosshairs which - two weeks ago - Democrats claimed were an overt call for assassination.

So what we have here, thanks to the president's inability to keep his mouth shut, is a perfect microcosm of the difference between the way Conservatives and Liberals intend to deal with the fiscal crises which will soon cripple (if not outright destroy) our nation. The Conservatives want to address the problem honestly, and take necessary - albeit painful - steps.

The Liberals refuse to deal with the financial issues in any way whatsoever and, if the voters are against them, they'll leave their posts rather than cast a vote for fiscal responsibility. And all while Barack Hussein Obama raises the level of anger and hate, attempting to turn simple budget-balancing into class warfare and, quite possibly, violence.

The defection of the Wisconsin Democrats and the reaction of the president seem to indicate that if America's budget is ever to be balanced it won't be through the actions of bills, bookkeeping, and legislation (all of which are unacceptable to the Left)...but will instead be the result of fighting in the streets.

That's not what Conservatives want. But it seems to be what the Liberals and the president of the United States are insisting on, and are trying to provoke.

God help us all.

SaintLouieWoman

02-18-2011, 10:18 PM

The dims down here are distraught because Gov Rick Scott (R) turned down the billions of federal light rail money. Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and one of the dem reps are having a field day, saying that the money, gasp, will be going to other states.

Let it go. Scott states that none of the high speed rail transit things pay for themself. The taxpayers of Florida will be saving money. I can't imagine that many folks travelling from Tampa and Orlando. Scott says that the ridership they project hasn't even been met in transit in the DC, NY corridor. There aren't that many folks travelling with their Mickey Mouse ears from Tampa to Orlando to justify that system. :rolleyes: